Weft straightening device



March 4, 1941. G. SMKLEY WEFT STRAIGHTENING DEVICE Filed June 10, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 IMP/ABLE SPEED D// VE REVERE/5L5 MOTOR AMPL/F/EE 0 I 0 1 L i F W l 7 Z March 4, 1941.

G. SMILEY WEF T STRAIGHTENING DEVICE Filed June 10, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Patented Mar. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WEFT STRAIGHTENING DEVICE Gilbert Smiley, Hingham, Mass; assig-nor to a. n Sjiistriim, Lawrence, Mass.

5 first weft threads of the feed are initially established in a straight position with respect to their feed, as for instance in a tenter frame or other frame feeding device, and maintained in such a position by means of the feed control according m to the present invention.

Straightening of, the weft after bleaching, dyeing, printing and finishing is usually needed because frequently the weft which is straight when it comes from the loom becomes twisted or deformed in being put through some of the processes mentioned above. Distortion may be of various types. The weft may be skewed, bowed, hooked atsthe edge, r it may have any combination of these faults and it may also have an ir- 20 regular wave shape or any other shape, depending upoh how the material was handled after it came off the looms.

In accordance with the present invention, the weft in any of these peculiar forms may he 25 straightened manually initially and maintained in this straightened form until it is fully processed, printed, out and rolled, or put through any other handling that may be necessary.

Weft straightening devices have largely been 30 operated by hand, but this is not wholly successful since at the speed that the cloth is usually travelling it is difficult to control the device quickly and accurately enough to do a good job of straightening. the weft. Acommon 35 type of weft straightening device employs a group of rollers over which the cloth travels,

and which are provided with means to tilt'the rollers with respect to one another to make the travel of the cloth faster at one side than the 40 other.

In such devices the speed of the cloth varies proportionately over the roll from one end to the other, so that onlyya simple skew could be perfectly corrected but not the other types of distortions mentioned above. Another type of straightening device uses ,cone rollers over which the cloth travels faster on the larger end than on the smaller end, but this type of device can also only take care of a simple skew.-

50 Various means have also been used for automatically controlling the straightening devices described above, but these devices have principally dependedupon the angle of a light beam shining through the cloth on a photo cell or the 55 intensity of such a light beam on a photo cell.

In the present invention the means of control which automatically maintains it in a straight position, operates to an accuracy of a single weft thread and controls the position of the weft at a number of critically spaced points over the width of the cloth. Further, the feeding or drive rolls are divided in as many parts as there are controls and eachcontrol acts upon its own drive roll to control the speed as desired to maintain the weft straight or in its initial position. While three controls have been found to be sufiicient, any-other number may be used dependent upon the width of the cloth and condition of the goods which is being processed, and other factors. a

Without further enumerating the advantages and merits of the present invention over the devices of the prior art, the invention will be described in connection with an embodiment of the same set forth in the specification below and illustrated by the drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows diagrammatically a layout of the present system.

Figure 2 shows a detail of a part of the system.

Figure 3 shows a further detail.

Figure 4 shows a modification of the layout shown in Figure l.

Figure 5 shows a detail of the optical system.

Figure 6 shows a modification of the layout of Figure l as applied to a tenter frame, and

Figures 7 and 8 show modifications of the detail for observing and counting the threads.

In the diagram of Figure 1, the blocked elements with legends calls for known apparatus which may be commonly and readily obtained either as standard equipment on the' open market or in any event as well known elements.

The cloth is shown in section at l passing over the rollers 2, 3 and t, which maybe idler rollers as shown, or they may be driven by gearing in conjunction with the rollers 59, it and ill, respectively, at the same speed as their respective rollers. The shafts M, M, l5 and I6, supporting the rollers 2, 3 and a may be a single con tinuous shaft or the shafts may be independently supported. If a single continuous shaft is used this may be supported by side supports it and is in any of the usual ways commonly employed in the art. Ihe rolls may be supported in a tenter frame or in any general type of weft straightening machine. Where it is desired to control and direct the feed of the weft at more than three places across a tenter frame, a greater number of independent feed rollers may be employed, each associated with-means, for controlling the roller speed with respect to a. particular chosenspot across the weft where the feed is maintained constant.

In the system illustrated in Figure 1, the independent feed rollers l1, l8 and I9 are driven through the drive shaft 5 which may be maintained constant in any usualwmanner as for'instance by a governor control. The feed roller I9 is driven by means of a gear 8 which meshes with the idler gear 1 driven by the drive gear 8 mounted on the constant drive shaft 9 operated through the reduction gear II! by means of the drive shaft 5. It shouldbe noted that since the feed roller I9 is coupled through a fixed gear system to the drive shaft 5, that the speed of the roller I9 is constant at all times because the speed of the shaft 5 is constant. On the otherhand the feed rollers l1 and I8 are driven indirectly by the constant drive shaft 9 through the variable speed drive 20, which variable speed drive is controlled by the. operation of the reversible motor 2| driving the worm- 22 which in turn controls the speed shaft crank 23. The variable speed drive '29 may be of any suitable type in which small speed changes can be readily and quickly established. The gear 24 on the constant speed shaft drives the gear 25 on the variable speed drive which transmits the motion through its variable control through the driving gear 25 which meshes with the gear 21 driving the feed roll I1. The feed roll I8 is controlled in a manner similar to the feed roll H by means of the variable speed drive 28, the reversible motor 29 andthe worm 39 and shaft 3|. In this case the constant speed shaft 9 drives the gear 32 which in turn provides the drive for the shaft 33 of the variable speed device trans-' mitting the rotational power to the gear 34 and drives the gear 35 meshing with it.

In the present system the variable speed drives 29 and 28 are controlled through optical systems which in eflfect count the weft threads that are passing by the optical system. Each thread as it 3 passes by produces a current impulse which is speeds corresponding respectively to the passage impressed upon an amplifier and which in turn after amplification operates by its pulses a synchronous motor. The synchronous motors controlled by the various points of observation are compared by means as will be described later with the standard synchronous motor controlled and operated by an optical system positioned at the point where the weft feed is constant.

In the system as shown in Figure 1 as each thread passes ,between the beams produced by the lights 35, 31, 38 and the photo cells 39, 49 and 4|, respectively, .lmpulses are transmitted to the amplifiers 42, 43 and 44 respectively. The beam thrown by the light 35 upon the photocell 39 is the beam of constant control and operates the standard comparison synchronous motors 41 and 48 at the speed corresponding to the speed of the weft threads beneath the photo cell 39. The motors 41 and 48 are shown'more in detail in Figure 2, and will be described later. For the present it will be sufiicient to notice that the motors 41 and 48 carry contact poles 49 and 58 respectively, which poles are positioned between a set of contact poles 5| and 52 for the synchronous motor 45, and 53 and 54 for Y the motor 46. The motors 45 and 48 are also synchronous motorswhich are operated by of the weft threads under the photo-cells. 49 'and 4| respectively. If both synchronous motors 45 and 41 for instance are run at the same speed,

the contact pole 49 will remain between the two tact pole. In one case the making of the contact in one direction will drive the reversible motor 29 in a corresponding direction and the making of the contact in the other direction will reverse the drive of the synchronous motor and thereby increase or reduce the drive of the feed roller I8. through the control of the variable? trol the drive of the reversible motor in a cor-v responding forward or reverse direction. r The same desciption given with regard to the operation of the synchronous motors 45 and 41 applies to the operation of the synchronous motors 45 and 48. While the speed of the weft under the photo cell 4| is the same as that under the photo cell 39 the motors 45 and 48 will retain a constant speed. If however more threads pass under the photo cell 4|, the synchronous motor 45 associated with it will go. faster than the synchronous motor 48 and causes a contact. to be made between the contact pole 50 and one of the poles 58 or 54. The direction of this control will be such'that the reversible motor 2| will control the variable speed drive 28 to reduce the drive of the feed roll |1 until the contact pole 59 leaves the contact to one of the poles 53 or 54 on the disc 58 driven by the drive shaft of the synchronous motor 48. At that moment then the feed through the drive of the roller l1 will have slowed down sufilciently so as to bring the weft back to its straight position transverse of the travel of the 0 0th, The motors 41 and 48 are driven at the same speed through the amplifier 42, which as previously stated, is controlled by the photo cell 39. If more points of feed drive control were desired, additional synchronous motors in parallel with the motors 41 and 48 would be used and these would be compared as described above with the synchronous motors operated by the photo cells at the desired points of control. Each of the dicated in Figure 2. Here the synchronous motor 41 drives the shaft 59 which has surrounding helical spring 5| or otherwise with the contact 7 pole 65. The. pole 49 is rotated by the shaft 59 through the helical spring 50 thereby providing a flexible connection between the shaft 59 and the pole 49 so that whenthe pole -49 meets one of the poles 5| and 52,. the position of the pole 49 will yield with respect to the shaft 59 tensioning the helical spring or compressing it as the case may be. The yielding will be of a magnitude corresponding to the normal variation of the speeds of the synchronous motors which are being compared, so that the poles 49 and 50 and 5| may be made of unyielding material and hold their respective positions one with the other. The leeway may be made in angular degrees, either less or greater than a single revolution depending upon the accuracy of control and adjustment'of synchronism that is desired and necessary.

The optical system is indicated diagrammatically in Figure 5 and comprises a bright filament light 10, a projector H with a slit 12 whereby the filament image may focus at a point 13 where the weft is passing by. The photocell 14 may be placed at a point in the dispersion of the focus of the filament so that when the threads pass by the focal point of'the, projector H, a shadowwill be caused on the photo cell 14 and cause a response in the input of the amplifier circuit. The slit 12 may be similar to that used for the reproduction of sound tracks of picture films and the image of the slit will be of "the order of the dimensions of the thread. By controlling the width of the slit and the type of filament and sharpnessof focus, the system may 'be applied to a great variety of woven material.

It may be applied to the very finestgtype of cloth, as forinstance fine cambric handkerchiefs which have threads 120 to the inch and it may also be applied to very coarsely woven and thick thread material. The device described in connection' with Figure 1 provides for automatic adjustment speeds of the feed rolls H and it to maintain constant weft speed. In place of the automatic adjustment shown in Figure 1, the control may be made through visual adjustment by an observer standing at a position beside the a moving cloth. In this case the impulse obtained through the photo cells operating the amplifiers may be impressed upon a high powered stroboscope which may be made to reflect a beam transversely across the direction of feed of the cloth. If the weft in this case is straight it will appear to standstill and can be visually seen as though thecloth were not moving. When however the portions of the weft become skew or otherwise distorted, the weft willchange its position from the desired straight line, The operator may thereupon adjust the variable speed drives to correct for such distortions. While thisv system may be employed for some type of work, it is not preferable to the general automatic adjustment described in connection with the system indicated in Figure 1.

InvFigure a there is illustrated an automatic adjustment of a weft drive in which the position of the axis of one roll 89 may be changed with respect to its associated roll 82. In.- this type of device when the weft is running straight, the rolls are parallel and when the .weft is runnin skewl as indicated by the lines Bi, the roll 38 may be adjusted with respect to the roll 82. This'may be accomplished through the spur gear drive 83 operated by a reversible motor 8% whose direction is controlled between the action of the synchronous motors 85 and 66 similar to the motors 45 and If of Figure 1.

The motor 86 as shown in Figure 4 is driven through the amplifier- 8? controlled by means of the light beam passing from thelight source 88 to the photocell 89. The drive of the synchronous motor is through the amplifier controlled in the same manner as the amplifier 87utl9i1rough the light source 9| and the photo ce When the weft under the light source 88 speeds up over the weft under the light source 92, the motor 84 is operated to control the axis of the roll 80 to reduce the speed under the light source 88 to that under the light source 9|. In this respect the control is similar to that described in Figure 1. The arrangement shown in Figure 4 illustrates how the present invention may be applied to a' weft straightening machine in which a plurality of weft straightening rollers may be used the axis of which may be adjusted with respect to one another. In a similar manner the present invention may be applied to a cone type weft straightening device where the variatiffil in speed is obtained by means of a conical r0 In the present invention where high speed feed is desired, the impulse transmitted through the photo cells to the amplifier may be proportionately reduced in frequency by any of the well known frequency reduction means as indicated by the blocked elements 95, 96 and 91. The construction of this particular means it will be appreciated does not form a part of the present invention. Where however very high speeds means of a pair of chains operating at the edges of the cloth. These chains are provided with clips or pin which grip and hold the cloth and carry it along as the chain moves, In Figure 6 two chains are provided, wt and Edi, each of these chains carrying pins-Hi2, :02 to which the cloth is fastened. These chains 5M, 8M are driven by means of the gears are, ltd, respectively which in turn are driven through a pair of bevelled gears, one of which is indicated at its, driven by the shafts are and 50?, on the right and left side of the frame respectively. As indicated in Figure 6 the shaft flflt on the right is driven by the main drive Wt through the gear W9, while the shaft it? on the left is driven by the gear Hi3 through the gear H l. The

gear Mill is connected to the main drive shaft l i2 through the variable speed device H3, which is controlled by the reversible motor tilt in the same manner as described in connection with the reversible motors 2i and 29 of Figure 1. The light beams provided by the lights M5 and H6 operate in the same way as those described in connection with Figure 4 and control the reversible motor 11 it through two synchronous motors operated in the same manner-as described in connection with Figure 4. If it is desired to have a control intermediate between the position of the light source M5 and MS, a third light source may be provided somewhere across the cloth and in such a case this third control will be operated similarly as the middle drive roll it of Figure l in' connection with the photo cell d9.

Figures 1 and 4 indicate optical means for picking up the count of the number of threads. This may be done in other ways. It may be done pneumatically as indicated in Figure 7 where a light blast of air from a source I20 is blown across the travel of the thread indicated by thearrow I2I. As the threads pass over the air blast, a sound of a definite frequency will be picked up by the microphone I22 which will be passed on to the amplifier I23 and which will give a definite frequency for the control of the synchronous motor. Another method of obtaining the count is by means of a direct contact device I25 which operates an electroresponsive device I26 which maybe impressed upon an amplifier I21 to control a synchronous motor similarly as described in connection with Figure 1.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. A system for maintaining the weft yarns straight in the feeding of textile fabrics, comprising a plurality of feeding means spaced transversely across the txtilefabric, means for counting the weft threads of said fabric passing by chosen fixed points, synchronous motors operated in synchronism with said counting means and means operated by said synchronous motors to control said plurality of feeding means for differentially feeding said textile fabric near the points of observation.

2. A system for maintaining the weft yarns straight in the feeding of textile fabrics, comprising a plurality of feeding means spaced transversely across the textile fabric, means for counting the weft threads of said fabric passing by chosen fixed points, synchronous motors operated in synchronism with said counting meansand having a relative phase difference established thereby between said motors, and means operated in conjunction with the relative phase positions of said synchronous motors for operating said plurality of feeding means adjusting the speed of feed near the points of the counting. 3. A system for maintaining the weft yarns straight in the feeding of textile fabrics, comprising a plurality of feeding means spaced transversely across the textile fabric, means for counting the weft threads of said fabric passing by chosen fixed points, one of which is set as standard, a synchronous motor operated in synchronism with each point of counting and establishing a relative phase difference thereby between said motors, and, means operated in conjunctionwith said relative phase for operating said plurality of feeding means for adjusting the speed of feed near the points of counting.

4. A system for maintaining the weft yarns straight in the feeding of textile fabrics, comprising means for feeding the textile fabric. means spaced at fixed points across the fabric for counting the weft threads of said fabric passing by said chosenfixed points, one of which is set as standard, a synchronous motor operated in synchronism by the impulses of the counting means at each point of counting, and switch means rotated with each of said synchronous motors and positioned each with respect to said standard synchronous motor for operation in accordance with the relative phase position of each of said synchronous and the standard motors, a plurality of reversible motors each operated by said switch means and means operated by said reversiblemotors for adjusting the speed of said feed near each point of counting.

5. A system for maintaining the weft yarns straight in the feeding of textile fabrics, comprising means for feeding the textile fabric, means spaced at fixed points across the fabric for counting the weft threads of said fabric passing by said chosen fixed points, one of which is set as standard, a synchronous motor operated in synchronism by the impulses of the counting means at each point of counting, and switch means rotated with each of said synchronous motors and positioned each with respect to said standard synchronous motor for operating in accordance with the relative phase position of each of said synchronous and the standard synchronous motors, a plurality of reversible motorsv each operated by said switch means, variable speed control means operated by said reversible motors for adjusting the speed of said feed near each point .of counting to maintain the weft speed constant.

6. A system for maintaining the weft yarn straight in the feeding of textile fabrics, comprising a plurality of feeding means spaced transversely across the textile fabric, electric means fixedly spaced transversely across said fabric, responsive to acoustic waves for producing electric impulses with the passage of each thread by said electric means, synchronous motors operated by said impulses in synchronism therewith and means operated by said synchronous motors for varying the speed of said feeds to maintain the weft straight.

-7. A system for maintaining weft yarn straight in the feeding of textile fabrics in a tenter frame which comprises means fixedly positioned at opposite sides of the tenter frame for counting the number of threads passing by said fixed means.-

prising means for feeding the textile fabric,

means spaced at fixed points across the fabric for counting the weft threads of said fabric passing by said chosen fixed points, one offwhich is set at standard, a synchronous motor operated in synchronism by. the impulses of said counting means at each point of counting, and switch means rotated with each of said synchronous motors and positioned each with respect to said standard synchronous motor for operation inaccordance with the relative speed of each of said synchronous and the standard motors, a plurality of reversible -motors each operated by said switch means and means operated by said reversible motors for adjusting the speed of said feed near each point of counting.

GILBERT SMILEY. 

